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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Laotian leaders have increased their visibility among
capitalist nations. A small coterie of dedicated
government
officials, including President Kaysone, have taken
advantage of a
sympathetic attitude toward Laos within the key
international
governmental organizations. Similarly, the UN, Australia,
and Japan
saw an opportunity in the opening of Laos. The
Australian-funded
Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River at Nong Khai,
Thailand, and
the generation of 280 foreign investment ventures from
twenty-four
countries during 1988-92 testify to creative communication
in
proper channels. Germany and France each supplied
approximately
US$6 million of aid in 1990.
Australia, Japan, and Sweden have established
significant
economic aid relationships with Laos. In 1992 the Laos
Roundtable
for bilateral aid and pledges recorded approximately
US$134.62
million for eight bilateral projects led by Australia,
Japan, and
Sweden. France has also begun to increase its aid to Laos,
beginning with projects worth approximately US$900,000 in
1989 and
increasing to approximately US$5.2 million in 1993.
Australia has established itself as a special friend,
even
though not in a "special relationship" with Laos. The
Friendship
Bridge, authorized in October 1991 and opened in April
1994, is
expected to stimulate trade and stable relations between
Laos and
its neighbors. Australia has sustained a generosity toward
Laos
that put it in first place among aid-pledging nations in
March
1992, even though Australian political interests in the
nation are
far from vital. In addition to its pledge of US$45 million
in aid
in 1992, Australia is hosting more than 100 Laotian
university
students.
Japan is also engaged by the economic needs of Laos
providing
almost 12 percent of disbursed bilateral aid in 1990. In
1992 Japan
made the third largest pledge of bilateral economic
assistance at
an aid-pledging conference of the UNDP in Geneva. Among
the
projects Japanese assistance has provided are buses and a
bus
terminal in Vientiane and health and food production
projects. The
somewhat modest Japanese investments in Laos were likely
raised by
Kaysone and Nouhak during their historic state visits to
Japan in
November 1989 and January 1992, respectively. Kaysone's
trip to
Tokyo was his first to an industrialized capitalist state,
and it
preceded by a month a similar visit to France.
Data as of July 1994
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